Dr Aslan, an Indonesian researcher at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, USA, opened BIOTROP’s Quarterly Public Seminar Series for 2017 as the first speaker to share his experiences on “Novel Uses of Active and Passive Remotely Sensed Data for Monitoring Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Mangroves” on 18 January 2017 held at the Centre’s MIT Building.

In his presentation, Dr Aslan elaborated on the findings of his two studies. In the first study, he developed models to map spatial distribution, canopy height, and aboveground biomass of mangroves, up to the genus level in Mimika District in Papua, Indonesia. This study is considered as a pioneering one in this aspect that merited its publication in Remote Sensing of Environment in 2016. In the second study, he used time series analysis of radar data to demonstrate that conversion of the 96,300-ha original mangrove forests in Mahakam Delta in Kalimantan, Indonesia into shrimp/fish ponds including their lifespan. The results of these two studies highlight the potential of the methodologies that Dr. Aslan developed to be adopted as standard operational procedures for assessing mangroves changes across broad areas, driven mostly by anthropogenic causes, towards restoring them.

Dr Aslan completed his PhD degree in Environmental Science from Indiana University and MS degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from University of Missouri, USA. He used to work as research assistant at BIOTROP’s Remote Sensing and Ecology Laboratory from 2000 to 2002.